


Unthinkable

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life, Part 2 [15]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 11:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11896518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: The way home ...





	Unthinkable

A second and third explosion followed, tall building reverberations shaking bones, cacophonous echoing shaking souls. Mulder reacted a second faster than Skinner, diving for Sam, who was already trying to stand, pulling him back down just as Skinner reached Betsy, “stay on the ground. Go towards the other door, not the main door.”

Following orders blindly, Sam began crawling, remembering only after he’d gone a few feet that the other kids were still behind him. Looking over his shoulder to see Hannah on his heels, the other three close behind, he wobbled as Skinner skirted past them, checking the side door before letting them into a small conference room, no windows, no smoke, no terrible smell.

Once they were gathered, Mulder bringing up the rear and Skinner making sure both doors were locked, the grown men looked at each other, silent conversation slinging across the open space between them, then both looked at Sam, “are you hurt? Are you okay?”

Recognizing the words, Sam heard them repeated twice more before he felt hands on him, feeling arms, probing head, finding his voice, “yeah, yes, I’m … I’m fine. What happened?”

As Mulder and Skinner worked their way through quick yet thorough exams of the rest of the group, always listening, never stopping, Mulder answered, “I don’t know,” exchanging another look with his boss, which told Sam he had his suspicions, however, “but regardless, since you’re all okay, we need to move. There’s a staircase down the hall to the right. We’re going to take that all the way down and come out the back of the building.” Before he could go any further, the main lights went out, the emergency lights came on and the fire alarms started.

As a collective, all five children slapped their hands over their ears, but Mulder shook his head, pulling Sam’s away, “you need to listen to me. We need your help. Can you carry Toby on your back? Skinner needs to go first and I’m going to be last and I don’t know if Toby or Betsy can keep up so if you take Toby, I can carry Betsy.”

He was explaining things with authoritative clarity, repeating names, keeping them from slipping into dangerous panic, which calmed Sam down enough to begin understanding, nodding as he turned to scoop Toby to his back, “I can help, Mulder.”

Sam watched as Betsy huddled in Mulder’s arms and waited for Skinner to tell them to move. Once he was beckoned forward, he took a deep breath, coughed at the smoke beginning to creep under the closed door and cowered bravely behind the ex-Marine. Skinner slowly opened the second door, checked, then led them into the hall, staying against the wall, sure steps down the red-tinted, alarm-screeching nightmare. No one else seemed to be there, the area deserted, which, in all honesty, was more unnerving than it should have been and once they reached the stairwell, after Skinner checked again, they entered it, shutting the door behind them.

The fire alarm echoed even worse in the small enclosed vertical tube but Sam fought the urge to plug his ears again, snagging Skinner’s sleeve, “where is everybody?”

Surveying both up and down the stairs, he motioned them to follow down, “this is an out of the way exit. We’ll find more people once we get to the lobby.” Hushing him next with a finger to his own lips, “quiet for now, okay?”

Sam began to suspect that both men were nervous about terrorists or someone else with guns trying to take over the building but not about to express any of that to the rest of the group, he whispered ‘quiet’ over his shoulder to a whimpering Toby and moved on.

Soon, they’d made it down the flights of stairs, Hannah bumping him several times but never throwing him off balance. Skinner took extra care opening this door and once he’d deemed it clear of possible debris, they exited into a living nightmare the likes of which none of them comprehended. Smoke, glass, metal, firemen, noise, a charring stench that burned their nostrils and had them all covering their noses with their t-shirts while they cowered around Skinner.

Toby simply buried his head in his cousin’s back and sucked his thumb, singing his mother’s lullabies softly to himself.

Mulder leaned into Skinner’s ear, “where should we go?”

“The hell away from here.” Taking Sam’s hand, who took Hannah’s who took Jake’s down the line, they followed Skinner’s lead, terrified of the world and focusing on nothing but the familiar body in front of them and the hand in theirs. They had to weave around burning objects and firemen in large coats shouting things over the alarms, eyes burning, tears pouring down cheeks, clean oxygen scarce and Toby clinging tighter and tighter around Sam’s neck.

And suddenly, there was sunshine.

Room to move.

Cool air on their faces.

The alarms weren’t so loud here, on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the building. Sam thought maybe they’d stop here, take a rest but Skinner shook his head, talking over them to Mulder, “we need to go a few more blocks if we can. Get far enough.”

Sam, suddenly ten going on ancient, heard the unspoken possibility of another explosion or building collapse so he readjusted Toby’s vice-like grip on his neck and hiked him higher, “let’s go.”

Skinner offered Sam a very quick, very small smile of approval before he nodded towards Mulder, “ready?”

Mulder called from the back, “let’s go,” before nudging Jake forward, getting the scraggly line moving in the direction of anywhere but there.

Holding hands still, they wove through spectator crowds, Sam wanting to scream at them to go inside, go somewhere safe, get out of the street, stop being stupid and start being smart but he declined, keeping silent, eyes focused only on Walter’s back, keeping firm pressure on Hannah and praying he’d get to see his mom and dad again.

Exhausted after six blocks, Skinner felt them lagging and stopped, the quiet tree-lined street polar opposite of the nightmare they’d left behind. Gathering in a group, Skinner looked at Mulder, “where do you want to go from here? Do you know anyone around here we could stop at?”

Mulder held up a hand, setting Betsy down first and straightening his back, “one second. Where are we?”

After Skinner told him the cross streets, Mulder breathed a sigh of relief, “the Gunmen are about a half-mile from here. We can go there and re-assess.”

Skinner motioned him forward, “lead on, then. I’d like to get off the street as soon as possible.”

As Mulder passed each child, he crouched, looking them in the eye, “are you okay? Can you walk a little further? Does anything hurt?”

All bravely answered they were doing okay, apart from Toby, who just sucked his thumb harder and gave what they took to be a miniscule nod. Knowing that was the best he’d be getting, Mulder took lead and began walking again.

&&&&&&&&&

Mulder led them through the maze of back alleys and around disguised as dumpsters and shopping carts surveillance equipment, knowing they were being watched long before they reached the home and office of his three friends. Frohike met them at the door, ushering them inside without a word, taking Skinner’s hand and hugging Mulder in a manly-like fashion, “are we glad to see you.”

Mulder nearly kissed Frohike’s bald head but refrained, instead setting Betsy down, “are the phone lines working?”

“Cells aren’t, signals are busy all over but Internet’s mostly working, slow but it’ll get you there. You haven’t called Scully yet?”

“Not yet. Phone was in my coat in the basement and we were up in Walter’s office. She won’t think to check her email so that’s useless. Any way to call Maggie’s house phone?”

Byers shook his head, “just a busy signal. No idea if she’s trying to call you or the phone lines are jammed.”

“We’ll just have to keep trying her cell then.” Taking a deep breath, he leaned on the wall, “can we sit down?”

Langley scrambled to clear off the couches, shoving piles of stuff to the floor, giving them a place to rest weary feet and over-taxed minds, “do you need anything to drink? Water?”

None of the kids answered, all choosing to pile together on one sofa, reality setting in now they’d stopped long enough to think about it. Leaning over them, Mulder gave them one long, encompassing group hug, “I love you.”

And they all broke, tears and sobs and hiccupping panic pouring out, their hellish afternoon culminating to this very point. The gunmen hovered but didn’t help, strangers to children they didn’t want to traumatize further.

But Skinner got in there, hugging his instantly favorite children in the world to him, taking over Jake and Betsy while Mulder focused on the other three. It took several minutes but sobs turned to sniffles and incoherency turned to comprehension, “Uncle Mudler. How are we going to get home to Aunt Maggie and Aunt Dana?”

Frohike, bless him, swooped in like Superman, “you’ll go in our van. It’ll hold everyone and more. It’s gassed up and from the news, traffic in your aunt’s direction isn’t too bad right now.”

Mulder looked up at him, “what’s the news saying?”

Byers shook his head, warning Mulder to shut up, “nothing much. Investigating and such.”

Seeing the cue as well, Skinner stood, “then how about we get these kids home and go from there?”

“Agreed.” With his own nod, Mulder held out his hand to pull Sam up, “follow Frohike.”

Once the kids were moving, Langley handed Mulder a cellphone, “you might get lucky. We’ll keep trying, too.”

“Thanks.” Seeing the littles out of earshot, “is it bad out there?”

All he did was nod.


End file.
